Saint Aolla
Saint Aolla is the patron saint of purity, subtlety and exposing evil. Known as a warrior with great patience and cunning he represents the watchful eye upon corruption beyond and within the church. 'Clerics of Aolla' There are two main groups of the Aolla church that have risen in the last few centuries, the Confrontors and the Evadors. The Confrontors wear the largest suits of armour they can find, interwoven with their robes and favour heavy weapons for the focus of undead fighting. The Evadors wear little to no armour (often multi-classing as monks) and are nimble and stealthy in their approach, dealing more with people and corruption in society than out in the wild. Though these two sects are quite different in method and appearance their approach is the same; remain pure and expose the evil in the holy land. Clerics of Saint Aolla are of the more travelling type, as much if not more than the likes of St. Darlow and Traffodd. They roam the land seeking out evil where the Ethos guides them. Always welcome at any church in any part of the land, they are a mixed blessing. For one they will make it their priority to weed out any evil lingering in the area, not resting until it is dealt with, but conversely they will never be above questioning the methods of a local preacher and the way he treats his flock. Aolla is a saint of the people, he cares more about the individual than the abstract structure of the church, and thus he is more common in the Low Lands than the haughty High Mountains, though he is not above going their as he is needed. Surprisingly or maybe not, Aolla clerics do become Inquisitors (prestige class, Church Inquisitor, Complete Divine 3.5) but a different breed than the stern seekers of divergence from the path. Though obviously a lot stricter than the average Aollian (as they must be Lawful) the focus their attentions solely on the large churches of the land and are rarely administered by the Vatic in their directions. On the whole though, a cleric of Aolla is just as likely to be diving into a hoard of undead (a personal insult to the purity of the soul and body in Aollian eyes) as they are investigating a corrupt baron mistreating his people. Rarely commanded by the Vatic, they still give the church the respect it deserves but are always ready to see the bigger picture and to encourage others to do so also. 'Alignment' As all Ethosian Saints they must be no more than one step away from Lawful Good, but Aolla finding more of a focus on the Good than the Lawful. Though far from ‘Chaotic’ his clerics are more likely to be Neutral Good as to see the bigger picture, than Lawful good and are rarely if ever Lawful Neutral. 'Appearance' As all clerics of the Ethos, Aollians wear the robes of white over blue, but the Confrontorss tend to combine theirs with heavy layers of armour while the Evadors like the loose fitting robes. 'Counties' Popular in more peopled orientated counties than the state ruled ones, his kind are favoured in Greystoke and the Gold Coast, and before the war with the drow, the Dragon Fields, though one of his devoted can be found anywhere there is corruption to be found in the land. 'Churches' Aolla has few large temples do to his dislike of an elite structure, and his wandering nature makes local parishes a contradiction to his nature. That being said, churches in his name, often run by elderly retired adventurer clerics do exist in Lanasail and Naragata, and have cropped up even in Ranadon for brief periods, but they are far from numerous, Aolla clerics more likely to end up spending time at a brethren church of the Ethos for any stint. 'Beliefs and Sayings' “Keep your body as a temple, and you have no need for a church” “To pollute your body with wine and weeds is to weaken your walls that keep out the evils of the world” “One man unseen is as great as ten men up front” “Never let the enemy know all your plans, for to show them your path is to show them where to ambush you” “One should not avoid temptation, but resist it, else how do you know you are strong in the face of it” • Aolla clerics do not consume drugs or drink or any kind, though they do not scorn others who do, they believe those who are to protect others such as they should not lower their senses by doing so • Though strong and righteous, Aolla teaches his clerics to not be brazen, bold or proud, but modest and humble in all things. For one it keeps you away from the path for the Zealot, and two it hides your intent from those who would seek to undo your work. • It is the foremost duty of Aollians to expose evil in all its forms, though they may not need to proclaim its presence and their revile immediately (for it is believed one should keep ones intent secret unless needed) evil should not be allowed to fester and a plan should be made immediately to rid the root of this evil. • In matters of pride and zeal (which he refers to as the ‘ninth sin’, see History) Aolla will address and speak to those who seem to be succumbing to it, and guide them back on the humble path by showing them the ways of the everyman. Should they shirk from this they are not above preaching to them and others who are in their assembly. Should this still not work it is not unknown for an Aollian to physically oust the tyrant happy to suffer the consequences. They will not lets zeal and pride of power corrupt the land as they would not let a ghoul feast upon the local graveyard, or a vampire the maidens of the night. • On that note, Aolla experienced the evil of the undead numerous times in his life as a paladin, and new the infectiousness of its evil not only in the physical world but new the taint on the Evenense they had (see History) and so has taught not to let such things exist, with only the purity of fire and holy light to be their only reprieve. 'Prayers and Practices' “Aolla, cleanse thy sight of evil as thou did the undead of the necropolis” “Aolla, give me the strength you had at the Pillar, so I might continue your good deeds” “Aid me Aolla, aid me in my mission and know I walk the path of the righteous” 'History' During the rise of the Sapphire Order after the Dragon Rage Wars and the discovery of the anti-paladin, a young Ranadonian man called Aolla Augard was acting as an aid worker upon the Gold Coast of Hilsyren to all those who had suffered when he witness the oppressive methods of the Sapphire Order, herding people to their Pillar of Purity like cattle to the slaughter. Speaking out about this he inadvertently caused a revolt which was soon blamed on Ranadon and started a fresh conflict for that land of contention. Without meaning to he ended up becoming the leader of the rebellion in Hilsyren and over several years came up with a plot against the Sapphire Order. Speaking to laity of the church in general he knew it was not their kill to do the deeds of the Order, but those who spoke out mysteriously vanished and the head of the Vatic (also known as the Vatic) knew not of what was happening to the common people of the land. Aolla came up with a plan to show the Vatic by having his allies kidnap him and bring him to the sight of a grand execution by the Order – his own execution. Getting caught intentionally he faced off against the Pillar but somehow knowing that its burning blue light would not harm him (how he knew and in turn did this is unknown and referred to as his first Miracle) and allowed himself to be brought before it and stood immune to its effects. This action drew out the head of the Sapphire Order Becksin Cainor and Aolla angered him into giving him a public execution in the belief his allies would have brought the head of the Vatic to witness this indecency and withdrawal this terrible sect. On the day of the execution in Monk More (which would become Lemnor) a massive crowd assembled and Becksin made a mad hysterical performance of himself that would surely tell anyone he was a madman and killed Aolla in a dynamic blood thirsty fashion. Sadly, the Vatic was not there to witness it. Having been forced to flee from the special assassin clerics, the Elusives, the rebel allies hid in the vast underground catacombs of the mountains, with only one lowly administrative clerk to guide them for six weeks. In this time he performed a miracle of his own in keeping a single torch burning for all that time, and also managed to convince the Vatic to believe them. This young clerk Aiden’s, words convinced the Vatic to see the devastation of the land at the hands of the Sapphire Order and when they found Aolla’s body, resurrect him. Together Aiden and Aolla found Becksin Cainor, who claimed all he was doing was for the right of the land, but when brought before the Vatic surrendered himself. Possibly knowing that they would never execute him, and that his people would try and free him, Becksin Cainor thought he was scot free, but he didn’t know the Vatic’s secret; a mysterious island with bizarre properties just off the coast of Hilsyren. Through methods still kept secret to this day, Becksin Cainor was exiled there and the Sapphire Order was abolished. When Silvid Padomar II finally came back from his false crusade, he realizaed he had not been dutiful to the land and it had suffered. Both he and the Vatic retired that year, passing on their duties to new and fresh leaders. Most notably Silvid passed the duties of First Lord to his son Illium, who with the help of Aolla of Ranadon led Hilsyren into one of the greatest areas of peace and prosperity it had ever or ever has seen. Aollo was tasked the destroy the Pillar, but knowing that it had been made from pure goodness and then simply filtered seven-fold, saw it as a sign of too much piety and zealousness. Studying at Antiok after discovering he was a paladin, he had the Pillar taken to San Serolla where the clerics train over the Canyon of Dreams, and modified it to only detect what he called the ‘Ninth Sin’ Zeal. For ever his ‘blue arch’ would sense the blind zealousness in all who trained there, and wean it out at an early stage. He changed the way all paladins train in his later years and would go on to have many more adventures becoming not only one of the many famous paladins of the land, but also in time, a Saint of great respect. 'Legends' 'The Hand of Lichfield' For sixteen years Aolla had helped Lord Illiem manage and change the paladins of Antiok as head of the Kannan, all the while going off on odd quests when needed. Monk More, the site of many of the Sapphire Orders atrocities had been united with Black Lion under a Northern Knight called Veidnik Rah who slew the great black dragon of the east and brought back its treasure to this land with his Hilsyren wife. This new house would be know as Black Dragon in honour of their fantastic deed and the new city Lemnor, a Neverlandian word. As it was built around a monastery of St. Mortimer and St. Heirone there were many buried dead, this site was fused into one to become a vast necropolis of those who died in the Dragon Rage Wars too, which Lemnor would be duty bound to protect. Aolla was now head trainer of the Padarum paladins, when one day he was called to deal with an artefact that had been smuggled into the still settling Eyshabreen by an unknown cult. It was the hand of the very first undead necromancy Lichfield, said to have the power to raise an army of the undead at a whim. In an attempt to form a peace between the two nations Hilsyren agreed to destroy it on their behalf. Aolla though did not go himself, instead sending his most trusted paladin, Vilastria of Arcanville, the master of the Seleka paladins and woman of great respect, and Aolla’s greatest temptation. Aolla had saved Vilastria from a fire giant attack off the coast of the Alice Plains when he discovered her power. Planning to be a wizard initially he saw a gift put to better use as paladin, as it was her calling. Over years he trained he and without knowing, he fell in love. Though the emotions of love and a want for family were not seen as conflicting to the Ethos, Aolla had been teaching for many years the way of abstinence as they way of the paladin, that the more relaxed ways of the past, especially under Silvid Padomar II had led to the second plague of antipaladins and then in extreme reaction to that, the Sapphire Order. It has always been seen that as Chosen Ones of the Ethos they could do what they want, that they were vessels for the Ethos and so their decisions must have always been right, but Aolla disagreed with this, and saw the incidents of the past as example of this. He believed the title of Chosen was a badge of Duty not Authority and that they, more than anyone should be bound by a code of rules, as they possessed dangerous powers. Thus abstinence, training and the Paladin Code was made so the instances of the past would never happen again. So when he started to yearn for someone he felt the full brunt of his new restrictions. Though he could have sent her away, or avoided her, he saw her presence as a test by the Ethos, to prove his resolve, and he took this on full on, living with her in the huts as he did all the other paladins and never once crossing the line of temptation, and she who it is believed felt the same way did neither give into the temptations of mere man and rose to become one a paladin master of equal standing to Aolla and thus was sent on the mission to Eyshabreen and fight the undead. Vilastria stored the Hand to the House of Forbidden Knowledge in Antiok, and all seemed well for months, and she returned to her duties as trainer. It wasn’t until a series of strange sightings in Lemnor were investigated independently of its resident paladin that an underground cult was found to have somehow got hold of the Hand of Lichfield and were experimenting with it in the catacombs. Aolla and Vilastria went to deal with this situation themselves only to find the leader of the cult was no other than resident paladin of Lemnor, Brargan Endin of Eridor. A hoard of undead was battled and the Hand reclaimed, but it soon became apparent this was only part of the scheme and the paladins investigated further leading to Vilastria and the paladin Kanan master Jarenador learning their was a base of operations in Ulmade Castle. Together they stormed it to fight the secret cult when Jarenador was betrayed by Vilastria, the secret founder of this new antipaladin order all along. The called themselves the Blackguard, defenders of the Black Lake but they had all the same hallmarks. Aolla eventually snuck into the castle to free Jarenador and together they returned, Jarenador having for him forged the Great Sword of Guidance to they would not fall into the same trap of the sould as others had. They brought down the entire place with the help of other holy paladins including Gracendark of Lucana, and Umvi of Gowe, but not before Aolla had his moment of doubt when faced with Vilastria, his one forbidden love for many years. Upon leaving the castle Vilastria stood before Aolla, knowing their strong carnal feelings for each other, and knowing their year and years of growing feelings meant he could not kill her. She spoke to him of the Mythos, how under its teachings they could be together and not live in such torment all their lives and she knew he wanted her. Aolla said she was not what she was anymore, just a fetid foul corpse of animated evil, and she agreed, she said that Vilastria’s true soul was deep within side her now, and when he killed her it would be dragged down to the Below with her and never in this life or the next would he see her again, unless, he turned to the Mythos, sacrificed his life and soul to it then she would be let free, it even showed him her actual soul, aglow with Palatine light. In that very instant he saw he performed his Second Miracle, launching upon the undead Vilastria he let her blade penetrate him and led himself die. For a brief moment his soul left his body and they were together, but some unknown strength of spirit and will he pulled he soul free of the undeads grasp and sent her free to the Ethos. As castle Ulmade burned and Vilastria the undead began to make her escape he rose from the dead, not undead, not fully living and slew her without a word. Some say he was a Risen Martyr, some say a living saint, others tell the story differently and the details are at best hazy as he only spoke of the experience once, but one thing was for sure, after this he was a changed man. Apparently the hand that had been given was a fake, and she had smuggled the hand into Hilsyren for her own reasons. The point of her turning was still not known, and if it was the effect of the hand or something to do with the last set of antipaladins, but what was agreed was the paladins were not safe to guard the hand and so it was given to the wizards of Arcanville to protect. Aolla grew into a stoic and grimmer old man, moving from his iconic light robes and blade to larger weapons and heavier armour and dedicated his life to hunting down and slaying the undead of the world. After this the antipaladins were said to never return, much of this is said to do with Aolla’s strict training and regiments of abstinence and the code, but who knows for sure. Aolla gave up training after this and became a crusading paladin, never resting and always on one mission or another for nearly twenty years and there are many stories about this time of hunting undead that are favoured by the Confrontors of his sect. 'Woman’s Isle' Aolla’s last miracle was not very well documented because as many of the saints last miracle, it involves his death. Around the Isle of Woman where Becksin Cainor had been banished nearly fourty years before, a strange storm had arisen. What was known about the island was its dampening effect of all magic, arcane and divine and also its impossible to escape effect for everyone except women (hence the name). But now this pink lightning storm was rising from the island and no one could approach without great risk. What made people suspect it was Becksin Cainor doing this was the intermittent pink lightning shrinking churches in Hilsyren. It was initially decided a female paladin of power should take on this quest so they may return, but those who tried died before even getting past the storm barrier, then Aolla volunteered. They said he was a fool and he stood no chance but he ignored all their advice and sailed a ship right up to the storm, which opened up for him. The storm raged for three days, turned purple then faded away and the land was safe once again from the storms. It was decided then to never use the isle again for exile and it fell into myth and legend as did the deeds of the great Aolla, not long later declared a Saint, as if he wasn’t already. Timeline 502 QC: Warriors of Adeline came to Hilsyren to defeat the demon dragon Tanargmere. It was looking for the Black Lake of the Mythos 506 QC: Apron 28th is the Night of the Unborn. Veidnik Rah is knighted in Lessin by Silvid Padomar II 507 QC: A quest for the Black Lake is commissioned, the trusted paladin Jaelyst is sent AGE OF ORDER (11th) 513 QC: Rise of the Anti-paladin 516 QC: Dragon Rage Wars ends, Lanasail lower dungeons sealed for good, after they were was used by the Antipaladin in a scheme 518 QC: The priest Merillian uncovered the anti paladin plot to the whole country after years of suspicion. 519 QC: The Sapphire Order is established. It is unknown whether this is the influence of the antipaladin. 520 QC: The Pillar of Purity taken to Monk More 521 QC: The Pillar of Purity taken on its tour of the Low Lands of Hilsyren, people rebel, Ranadon blamed 522 QC: Ranadon actively fights the Vatic and takes on asylem seekeers 523 QC: Aolla brings down the Sapphire Order and joins Antiok as a paladin after the Pillar of Purity is destroyed 530 QC: Aiden of the Ethos explores the land trying to find truths of the Ethos after the dark time of the Sapphire Order 539 QC: Anti-paladin uses hand of Lichfield to raise Lemnor necropolis, defeated by Aolla. Jarenador storms Ulmade castle, anti-paladins base, only to nearly die 559 QC: Old master of the Sapphire Order rises up from his exile in Woman and Aolla goes to battle him, neither is heard from again 574 QC: Dwarf Procession help clean up after the anti-paladin and Sapphire Order 'Game Rules' Domains: Exploration, Good, Law, Protection Confrontors and Evadors Bonus Class Skill: Stealth Favoured Feats Oath of Aolla